


Red Vines and Peppermint Sticks

by hopelessly_me



Category: Marvel
Genre: Angst, Clint Barton needs a nap, Clint has had a rough couple of months, Concerned Bucky, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, I swear this will remain a one shot for my own sanity, M/M, Ronin Clint, Sad Clint, brief offhanded mention of death/suicide, candyland universe, concerned steve, hopeful Bucky, mention of AU Hydra Steve, mentions of stony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27729091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessly_me/pseuds/hopelessly_me
Summary: After finding Clint in a different universe after his death and rebirth Bucky, Clint, and Steve find themselves in a new universe where there are candy canes and rivers of chocolate and sugar. Who would have guessed that Candyland sucked so much?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 21
Kudos: 40
Collections: Winterhawk Bingo Round Two





	Red Vines and Peppermint Sticks

**Author's Note:**

> For my Winterhawk Bingo fill “makeshift weapon” (O5).
> 
> (And because we all know I have a thing for Clint when he is Ronin. I can't help it. It's a thing.)

“I- am going- to kill- your husband-” Bucky complained while he ran, panting out the words more than anything.

“He apologized- three times already,” Steve replied. He stopped rather abruptly, pulling Bucky along with him. “... we lost Clint.”

Bucky stopped and looked around. Everything around them was relatively quiet, too quiet. He would have expected to hear Clint whining, or even some controlled breathing as he tried to catch up. “ I swear to God if that asshole is trying to make friends with the fucking Sour Patch Kids again I am going to lose my shit.” Bucky looked at Steve, his face pulling into a smile. “It’s _not_ funny.”

“It kinda is, Buck,” Steve said, his smile leaning towards the radiant side. Normally Bucky loved that smile when it graced Steve’s face, but right now he kind of wanted to punch him. “Leave it to Clint to-”

There was a rumbling on the ground and Bucky frowned. Steve looked at Bucky, another rumble coming in stronger. Bucky casted his gaze out along the treeline, or candy tree line, whatever the hell you wanted to call this hellish universe they were currently residing in. The rumbling grew louder, stronger, and soon he saw the big, red head of a-

“Awww, gummy bear, no.” Bucky startled and looked up. Clint jumped down from a vine, holding what looked to be a jagged peppermint stick with-

“Tony told us not to eat the things here,” Bucky scolded, tugging the piece of Red Vine out of Clint’s mouth. Leave it to his boyfriend to continuously push the envelope on these matters.

“But I’m hungry!” Clint whined and pouted, one black and gold glove coming up to push his hair back.

“Can we focus on the big gummy bear approaching us please?” Steve urged them.

“No. No, this is bullshit, I’m done with it,” Clint complained. “Who the hell throws us into Candyland when this place is _wrong_ . Things want to kill us. Things I typically love to eat. And! And to make it worse. I got _licked_.” Bucky shudders at the same time as Clint did. Bucky never realized just how often he would get licked as an Avenger. Aliens are _weird_.

“Guys! Gummy. Bear.”

“And!” Clint explained. “Can I just talk about how depressing it is that we aren’t allowed to eat here? Everything has sugar! I mean, I could really go for a coffee right now. Or a nap- probably both. But no! I can’t have either of those-”

“Bear!” Steve shouted.

Clint snapped to attention and reeled his arm back before he flung the peppermint stick at the bear, not bothering to watch where it landed. Bucky did though- he watched the whole follow through and watched as the bear fell with the loudest sound, the ground shaking hard enough that it threatened to knock Bucky off his feet. “No one better complain that I killed something or so help me, I will throw you into the chocolate river.” Bucky looked back at Clint. “But… I mean… now that it’s dead-” Clint said slowly.

“No eating the things here,” Steve said sternly.

Clint groaned and sat down in his spot. “This place sucks.”

“I think I saw water when we were running,” Steve announced. “You both stay put. It wasn’t that far back. I will shout.” Steve brushed against Bucky as he passed. “Watch him.”

Bucky nodded. He watched as Steve left before he took a few steps closer to Clint. He kicked at Clint’s boot. “Hey.”

“Unless you are about to say you have a protein bar in your pocket, I dunno if I want to hear it,” Clint admitted before he looked up. His expression softened a little and Bucky felt his own face relax. “Hey,” he replied. “Steve put you on babysitting duty?” he asked.

“Stop referring to it as that,” Bucky said before he sat down. He reached out and touched Clint’s knee. “You doing okay?” he asked. “This last week hasn’t exactly been easy on you.”

Clint snorted and his head fell into his hands again. “Just hungry and tired. Really tired. But I’m- I’m just happy I guess.” He looked up through his lashes. “I know we still need to talk-”

“It can wait until we are back in our universe,” Bucky stressed.

Clint shook his head before he nodded. “No, I know. I just need to know where we-”

“I think it might be water,” Steve said as he came back. Bucky cursed Steve silently, cursed his bad luck, cursed the universe for pretty much everything in that moment. “Clint, you alright?” he asked.

“Oh, never better,” Clint replied sarcastically. “I died, came back from the dead in a different universe and I am dressed like a ninja in a place filled with pastel colors, sticking out like a sore thumb. And now I don’t even get to privately talk to my boyfr- to Bucky-” He looked frustrated for a moment before he turned on Bucky. “What the hell are we? Are we dating or not?”

Bucky held his hands up. “I’m still referring to you as my boyfriend,” he answered.

The look of relief that washed over Clint’s face hurt more than what Bucky thought it should. That was something they hadn’t talked about yet, that Bucky wanted and needed to talk about. But knowing now that Clint thought their relationship had changed? Or that Clint had thought that Bucky was only doing this for a friend, for a fellow Avenger and not because Bucky was lost without him? It was an emotion Bucky couldn’t begin to describe and didn’t have the time to process yet.

“Right. Now I can’t even talk to my boyfriend without us universe hopping because between Tony and Strange, no one can figure out how to pull us back,” Clint said as he walked, his voice surprisingly upbeat. “I only kinda feel like staying dead was the better option.” He patted Steve’s shoulder as he passed.

“Don’t,” Bucky warned Steve before he could get the words out. He got up and walked over to Steve. “This is the most he’s talked since we found him. That has to be a good sign.”

“He literally just said that being dead was the better-”

“I heard him,” Bucky said. “I don’t particularly like what he said either. However, when you came back you got time to sit and think, process what happened. We don’t know what Clint went through by himself for the last few months. So… we give him time.”

Steve didn’t look too impressed by that idea. Before either of them could open their mouth they heard a gagging noise and took off running to the river. Clint was leaned over, his face scrunched up in disgust. He got up to his hands and pulled his knees under him.

“It's pure sugar. Sugar water,” Clint whined before he threw himself back and looked towards the sky. “This place officially sucks more than the universe with all the vampire cats. What next? Oompa Loompas coming out to sing us to our death?”

“Please don’t say that,” Steve sighed. “We already had to run from Sour Patch kids, narrowly escaping because you took them out with skittles. You killed a giant gummy bear. If something starts singing to us, I might throw myself into the sugar river.” Steve sat down near Clint and looked up. “... the clouds are cotton candy, aren’t they?”

“Of fucking course they are, Steve,” Clint groaned. “A land made out of candy, no real water in sight, and I can’t eat any of it. My life is a dumpster fire no matter what universe I’m in.”

Bucky had to fix things somehow, but he wasn’t sure how. He had just gotten Clint back, had only just found him in that universe that didn’t seem to have treated him kindly. With each new dimension hop, he could see the weight of it all pressing on Clint and Bucky was beginning to worry for Clint’s mental state. Even Steve was starting to get antsy with every new universe, and Bucky could understand that feeling. All of them just wanted to be home.

Bucky looked around before he smiled. “Hey… thought,” he said. “Back where the peppermints were, there were discs.”

“Yeah, broke one, smelled like a York peppermint patty,” Clint said dreamily.

“Why don’t we play Frisbee?” he offered. Clint looked over at the same time that Steve looked down at Clint. “Come on, it will take our minds off of everything. And it gave better sight lines than here in red vine forest.”

Clint closed his eyes for a moment before he sat up. “Yeah- alright.”

They marched back towards the snow tundra. Clint pulled the mask up on his outfit, blocking half of his face from the cold. At least one of them present was somewhat prepared from the drastic weather shifts this land offered.

“Here it is,” Bucky said, running over to the tree and pulling off the disc-like treat. “Here we go!” he shouted, flinging to Clint. He smiled as Clint jumped to grab it, kicking up snow as he did before he flung it to Steve.

It was something simple that brought each of them a little peace. Just seeing Clint smile occasionally was enough to calm Bucky’s heart, and it seemed to calm Steve down from thinking that this Clint wasn’t their Clint. It was name calling, ball busting, good natured fun that Bucky had missed since the whole Wanda fiasco happened, since Clint and Steve had vanished. Having them both back now was the only gift Bucky ever needed in his life.

Clint jumped up to catch the disc then fell back, turning to look off in a direction, distracted by something. Steve hesitated before he waved to Bucky, both of them coming closer, and yet Clint hadn’t moved.

“What is it?” Steve asked.

“Water,” Clint said slowly, unsure. “I swear it looked like-” He slowly pulled himself up and was on the move, climbing up on Bucky without asking, getting on his shoulders. “If you look past that field there, there’s a house. I swear I saw a flicker of silver, like a waterfall or something.”

“Stay here,” Steve said as Bucky waited for Clint to climb back down. “I’ll signal if we have water.”

“Be careful,” Bucky said. Steve nodded and took off at a sprint. “... there’s no water, is there?”

“No, but he has been riding my ass, not letting me out of his sight for too long,” Clint answered as a means to justify his behavior, his eyes glancing at Bucky. “Gonna be mad about it?”

“Only slightly since literally everything here wants to kill us,” Bucky answered with a sigh. “Clint, you have to tell me what’s going on. You’re different.”

“I’m tired, I told you that a million times,” Clint argued. “While you guys did… whatever you did, I was on my own. I was in a place where only a few of us existed as good people. Do you have any-” Clint stopped and looked down.

“Hey.” Bucky reached out and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. “You can tell me.”

Clint’s jaw clenched and he closed his eyes. “The first person I found when I was there was him,” Clint said, looking back up in the direction Steve had headed off in. “He was with Hydra. I thought maybe he was acting, putting on a show or something, doing undercover work. The second person was you.” Clint shivered, his shoulders pulling up, his hand tightening around Bucky’s. “I did what I had to, and it was hard, and I haven’t- fuck, I haven’t slept in-”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Bucky said, pulling him closer and hugging him tightly. He didn’t have words for anything else, nothing that he could think of to soothe away whatever was still lingering in Clint’s head. The thought alone of what Clint described alone left Bucky feeling a little off himself.

“I’m still waiting for this to be a dream,” Clint whispered. “I’m still waiting to wake up and for not-you to be there. Not-Steve to haul me up and take me back to-”

“Take you back?” Bucky asked. Clint went silent. “Clint. Did they-”

“Don’t. Please,” Clint begged. “I don’t want to think about it. I just want- I just want to go to sleep and wake up and everything is back to being okay. That I’m back to being where I should be with the people I should be with.” He pushed off and away from Bucky, walking a short distance away, his hands on his hips, his head bowed. Bucky knew that stance, knew Clint needed a moment.

“We gotta go,” Steve said, running up to them. “We need to- what is happening here?”

“Nothing,” Clint answered, turning back around. “What’s got your panties in a- aah!” Clint shouted, jumping as a dart of peppermint hit the ground near his foot. “Oh come on! Not gingerbread men!” he shouted.

“Yes, that, gingerbread men. We need to go,” Steve said.

“I’m so done with this running bullshit,” Clint snarled, stalking his way to the tree. “Six fucking months of running. I’m done.” 

“Clint! We have to-” Steve argued.

“Clint!” Bucky shouted at the same time.

Clint ripped off a peppermint patty and flung it just as a bright light surrounded them. Bucky lifted his arm and shielded his eyes. It was happening again. They were being pulled out of this universe and pulled into another. That burning sensation flooded him again and all he heard was Clint’s shout in pain. He knew it was only seconds despite it feeling like minutes, but the pain was always the same when they were ripped from one universe to another.

This time he landed somewhere warm. He opened his eyes and everything looked familiar, from the lab equipment that he wasn’t quite sure what it did, to the blueprints and tools scattered about. It was Tony’s lab- it had to be. Bucky turned and smiled for a split second before his eyes widened.

Clint’s arm was still frozen from when he flung the peppermint patty, but Bucky knew he could move, he watched him blink, his shoulder slowly pull up. And the reasons for his reaction were currently stuck to a glass window, covered in chocolate and white as a minty scent filled the air. Tony, nor Strange, looked very impressed.

“This is a great way to say you’re home, you know that?” Tony asked, sounding positively bored and annoyed all at once. “A Barton classic.”

Clint lowered his arm and for the first time, Bucky finally could see that confident smirk reappear. “I thought you needed to cool down. First time seeing Steve in all his glory in two weeks- no one needs to see you all worked up, hot and bothered.”

Bucky let out the loudest, straight from the gut laugh as Tony _and_ Steve both were stammering for words, both of their faces turning a bright shade of pink. Despite weeks of wondering what had happened to his boyfriend, he finally got to hear the jokes he had been waiting for. If there were any doubts left in Steve’s mind, this had to have cleared them.

Strange, however, just sighed. “I assume you are Clint Barton.”

“In the non-zombie flesh even,” Clint said. He took his gloves off and looked at his hands before he turned and looked at Bucky. “Might need to pinch me, just to be sure.”

Bucky smiled and jogged up before gathering Clint up in his arms. Clint was still for a moment before his gloves dropped and he held onto Bucky, his head coming down to Bucky’s shoulders. “Welcome home, Clint.”


End file.
